My parents realised early on in my life that I wasn't like other children of my age: I was disinterested in sports, and my vocabulary was advanced, due to my inheriting their love of books, and colourful, due to Dad spending 30-odd years in the Royal and Merchant Navies
. Once they were sure that collecting with me was more than a passing fad, and that any family treasures wouldn't be swapped for comics or whatever, Dad entrusted me with his father's 14/15 Star, and Mum with this brooch, the survivor of a pair my uncle brought back to Dublin after serving as a Redcap in North Africa and Europe. Presumably there was once a thriving cottage industry in making these with various badges; doubtless many have been broken or lost over the years, I've never seen another (although TBH I've never looked). It's funny, now I think of it, but it means more now than when I was first given it: it not only symbolises the love a soldier had for his sisters, thousands of miles away, but also the trust my parents had in me at quite a young age
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Anyway, hope you like it
Graham